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The petty battle against Bike Share in historic Cabbagetown: Micallef

Persnickety objections by some residents to a Bike Share stand at Riverdale Park are a rejection of what it means to live in a shared city, Shawn Micallef writes.

A Bike Share stand installed at the northwest corner of Riverdale Park has ruffled feathers in Cabbagetown among some residents who think it's not a good fit for the neighbourhood.
(Andrew Francis Wallace / Toronto Star)

Bikes, a form of transportation that predates the automobile, are continuing to cause concern in Cabbagetown.

In a Jan, 23 letter to City Councillor Pam McConnell, the Cabbagetown Heritage Conservation District Committee expressed disappointment that a Bike Share station was installed last summer within the Cabbagetown North Heritage Conservation District (HCD) without “any regard for the truly unique character” the area presents and asked it be removed.

An HCD protects an entire neighbourhood, not just a historic building. Bike Share, Toronto’s municipal bike lending program, installed a station with 14 bikes in the northwest corner of Riverdale Park, near the Winchester and Sumach Sts. intersection. The committee says the bikes interfere with the “character, rhythm and overall setting” of Cabbagetown and mentioned three listed heritage properties nearby, including the Toronto Necropolis chapel, that the bikes compromised.

Back in November, the Cabbagetown Residents Association conducted an online survey after two residents launched the first historic petards at the bikes, with complaints that stated, in part, “the park should not be dumping grounds for the latest trend from city hall.” Of the 739 who responded to the survey, 721 were in favour of the current location, with only 16 wanting the bike station removed, and two people choosing somewhere else entirely. Undaunted by the survey results, the heritage committee, made up of Cabbagetown residents, launched another volley.

Should the committee be successful in removing the Bike Share station from the park, can we expect them to then work on removing the on-street parking found throughout historic Cabbagetown? While the Bike Share station took up just one small pocket, the entire park and necropolis are surrounded by Hondas, Volkswagens and Volvos, many of them closer to the heritage properties than the bike share is.

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The committee should have no trouble whipping up support for removing parking and returning to the glory days of the 1890s when horse and buggy riders had an empty street to enjoy with unimpeded views of the then-new buildings.

The committee proposed a new location for the bike station down the street on a sliver of land along Sumach by the Spruce Court Public School. It’s as nice as any non-descript sliver of land can be, but it isn’t in the park, where all the people are. (The sliver would make a great place for an additional station as the program grows though.)

Bike Share now has 200 stations with 2,000 bikes across the centre of the city, and is growing still. In order to succeed, it’s incredibly important it be visible, near the places people want to go, not tucked away, out of view of a destination like Riverdale Park.

It’s taken a few years for Bike Share to grow and become part of the daily lives of residents and visitors to Toronto. Each year more people join, and, based on random observation, there are more winter riders pedalling the big rental bikes this season than ever before.

Many cities around the world have similar programs that are wildly successful, like London’s “Boris Bikes,” named after former mayor Boris Johnson, who championed this “latest city hall trend.” Historic-minded Cabbagetowners may one day make a trek to London to see its historic sites, and while there, they’ll find bike stations in front of the Victoria and Albert Museum, by Westminster Cathedral, across the street from the Royal Albert Hall, and even next to the British Museum.

Of course, none of those places can match the historic “character, rhythm and overall setting” of Cabbagetown, but somehow Londoners manage to Keep Calm and Busybody On, allowing bike stations next to all manner of historic British things.

The great shame in Cabbagetown is groups like the committee were born out of a positive urge to preserve something good and unique in Toronto. Neighbourhoods like Cabbagetown were hard-fought to save, with epic battles in the past, but they’ve become enclaves of exclusivity, not just economically, with homes starting well over a million dollars and out of reach to most, but spiritually too, embracing a cultural ideology of opposing everything and everyone that might want to enjoy it too.

These kinds of persnickety objections are abdications of urban citizenship and a rejection of what it means to live in a shared city. When established resident groups object to every new residential building, townhouse project, or bit of proposed gentle density, they alienate themselves from the rest of the city. In this case, objecting to a Bike Share station just steps from Riverdale Farm, a civic institution people across the city have fought to save from budget cuts, is downright petty.

It’s tiresome, but perhaps not all Cabbagetowners feel this way. If so, they should speak to the vocal leaders who are purporting to represent them and get them to say yes sometimes.

Shawn Micallef writes every Saturday about where and how we live in the GTA. Wander the streets with him on Twitter @shawnmicallef

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